laborantem The Moon is more admired when she is in an Eclipse than when she shines out fully and perfectly But my Brethren We must endeavor to correct this Vicious disposition of our Minds For truth is not the worse either for being commun or for having Age on its head And seeing these Truths concerning the Creation and Providence of God and the Reason we have to fear and worship Him are strongly confirmed to Us let it not be any prejudice against them which ought to be their commendation that they are ancient all and all intimate to our Natures Lastly let me advise you if you think your selves not in danger of speculative to beware of practicall Atheisme For we may be guilty of this Sin not only by Wishing or saying There is no God but also by living without his fear For that is to live as if there was no God For he denies God that doth not alwaies fear the effects of his power his Justice and his Truth He denieth God that denies to honor him in all his Attributes And surely he hath no conceit of the Truth and justice of God or no conceit of his Power who doth not fear to dissobey Him For what saith God by the Prophet Jeremy Will you Steal and Kill and commit Adultery and Swear falsly and burne incense unto Baal and yet professe to fear and Worship me Jer. 7.9 You had as good professe to deny Mee as to Worship me and not to Obey mee So in the fiftieth Psalme God telleth the wicked Man that it is a part of great prophanesse to pretend to Gods covenant and yet to hate to be reformed v. 16 17. to venture to dissobey God and break his commandments and yet to professe to worship Him to be guilty of Theivery and Adultery and Calumny and to hope that God will connive at all this It were as honorable to God for us to think there was no such Being as to think him such a God as would take upon him to judge the world and yet suffer himself to be flatter'd so with hypocriticall Worship as to be wrought upon to passe by the breach of his own Laws and to be made inconstant to the observance of those Morall Rules by which he governs the world as good deny Him as to suppose him a blind-Guide or an unjust and partiall Judge Take therefore the advice of the Psalmist in the 22d verse of that 50th Psalme and Consider this Ye that forget God that is ye that have own'd Him and yet now fear Him not least he tear you in pieces Those who have profess't Religion if they forget their Duty to God which they have profess't and live prophanely They shall most certainly undergo the punishment of their prophanesse The sentence is God shall tear them that is God shall distract and crosse such persons in this life and punish them eternally in the life to come One will make hast to be Rich and it may be not having the fear of God before his Eyes will designe to attain his End by manifest theivery So the Psalmist when thou sawest a theif thou consentedst with Him another man or the same Man another Time for want of the same fear will be companion to an Adulterer v. 18. Some give their Mouth to Evill v. 19. and their Tongue frameth deceit it may be to circumvent their Neighbors in buying or selling or matters of Trade Some abuse their tongue another way they sit and speak evill against their Brother and slander their Mothers Son v. 20. Now because God refers the punishment of these Offences to future judgement and doth not take them off immediately in the very Act they harden themselves yet more against God and fear him lesse and lesse So vers 21. These things hast thou done and I kept silence and thou thoughtest that I was alltogether such a one as thy self that is apt to be flatter'd and corrupted as thou art and therefore thou addest worship to thy Wickednesse But I will reprove thee and set them in Order before thine Eyes I will make thee know the Order and difference of Duties and so I shall set before thine Eyes the many disorders of thy practice For in Vain in words you professe to defy Atheisme and in Vain you own and worship God with your lips When in the mean time you rob Him of his better and nobler Services When you do not give him reall Fear and Honor in your hearts and when you deny him Obedience in your lives And he fears not God that dares to dissobey Him For Worshipping and offering of Praise is good but living Obediently is better and more accepted with Him So the Psalmist Concludes and so do I He that Offereth praise Honoreth God but to him that ordereth his conversation aright shall be shewed the Salvation of our God Gloria Trinuni Deo SERM. II. PSAL. 34.11 Come ye children and hearken unto me and I will teach You the fear of the Lord. IT is observ'd that this phrase The fear of the Lord denotes in Scripture severall distinct habits or dispositions of the Mind Sometimes it signifies Religion or the worship of God in generall So Job 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 1.9 Where Satan asketh Doth Job fear God for nought the LXX render it doth Job worship God for nought and so that which in the phrase of Moses is V. apud LXX Prov. 1.7 Esaiae 33.6 Gen. 20.11 Job 28.28 in voce complexâ Job 1.15 8. 2.3 Vid. Deut. 10.12 Jonae 1.9 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God Deut. 10.20 is rendred by the interpretation of our Savior Math. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God And it is ordinary to render the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth to fear by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies to worship And in all languages Religion and the fear of the Lord sometimes passe under the same significations And in this sense I understood this phrase the last time when in Opposition to our Aristotelean and Epicurean Atheists I affirmed the existence of the Eternall God and advised you to fear and worship Him Sometimes the fear of the Lord is taken in a stricter sense for the Dread of God as the author of all punishments and especially of eternall punishment in Hell And there are other sorts of affections that have this Name also There is the fear of a Slave and the fear of a Son There is the fear of an Atheist and the fear of an Hypocrite the fear of a doubting Christian and the fear of a Christian that douts not but is carried on with a full assurance of Faith For he dreads God as a child reverenceth his Father that is He fears to offend Him There is great variety in these fears They take severall Men severall Waies The lowest kind is communly the beginning of Wisdome That frights from Sin for fear of punishment But the highest kind namely
the work of God For that Chance the blindest thing in the world should perfect all the parts of this stately fabrick and place them in this excellent Order is the most incredible supposition that could be made It is well observ'd by Cicero that by the casuall shuffling of many thousand single leters the Annals of Ennius might more possibly be composed than that a Chaos of undigested Atomes should forme so excellent a world consisting of so many and so usefull and beautifull parts without the least contrivance Hic ergo non mirer esse quenquam qui sibi persuadeat corpora quaedam solida atque individua vi gravitate serri mundumque effici ornatissimum pulcherrimum ex eorum corporum concursione fortuita Hoc qui existimat fieri potuisse non intelligo cur non idem putet si innumâ—rabiles unius viginti liâ—erarum sormae vel aureae vel quales libet aliquo conjiciantur posse ex his in terram excussis Annales Ennii ut deinceps legi possint effici c. Quod si mundum efficere potest concursus Atomorum cur porticum cur templum cur domum cur Uâ—bem non potest De nat lib. 2. But before I leave the Epicurean Atheist let me forme one argument against him out of his own Philosophy It is this That which is received by the commun Prolepsis or Notion of Mankind that is Certainly true Vidit Epicurus esse Deos quod in omnium animis eorum Notionem impressisset Natura Quae enim Gens est aut quod geaus hominum quod non habeat sine doctrina anticipationem quandam Deorum quam appellat Prolepsin Epicurus So Velleius in Cicero 1. De Nat. Deorum A little after Cum non instituto aliquo aut more aut lege sit Opinio constituta maneatque ad Unum firma omnium Consensio intelligi Necesse est esse Deos quoniam insitas corum vel potiùs innatas cognitiones habemus De quo autem omnium Natura consentit id verum esse necesse est ib. ex sententia Epicuri This major proposition is Epicurus's own and stongly contended for as you may see in the first book of Cicero de Nat. Deorum The Minor out of his own Philosophy also shall be this But the Being of a God is received by the commun Prolepsis or Notion of Mankind Whence the Conclusion follows That it is certainly true there is a God The Epicureans not being able to deny any part of the Premisses admit the Conclusion also but then affirme that this God did not create nor doth Governe the World To which the Reply is easy It being granted by them that what is received by the commun Notion of mankind is true and that the Being of God was so received Let any Epicurean unravell what was generally meant by the word God and he will find That men in their commun Notions when they asserted the being of a God had no other conceit of Him than of the great Creator and provident disposer of all things And therefore from the Commun Notion Eupicurus ought to have concluded if the Existence of God then his existence also according to that Notion Now it neither is nor ever was the Notion of Mankind That God is an Idle Fairy or Spirit as he imagined but that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Sophocles There is in Truth there is one God and he made Heaven the large Earth and Azute sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictet Aelianus dicit Barbarorum neminem delapsum ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed ab omnibus affirmari esse numen nostri curam gerere lib. 11. c. 31. Plutarchi est illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. lib. de com Notitiis Populares Deos multos naturalem unum esse summae Totius Artificem Artisthenus ut ciratur à Lactantio lib. 1. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Varro Deum Animam esse Motu ac Ratione mundum gubernantem v. August de Civ Dei lib. 4. c. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Father and Maker Principle and Cause of all things as I could prove unto you out of allmost infinite Testimonies It is well however that we have the Testimony even of those Opposers of Gods providence upon Record that in the Time of Epicurus the being of a God was by them and others generally received as the commun Notion of all Mankind And so much against those who out of the Epicurean principles have endeavored to cast off all Religion and the fear of a God Only for an Epiphomena before we make our Transition let us joyn in Chorus with the Prophet Jeremy c. 10.6 7. and say Forasmuch as there is none like thee O Lord thou art great and thy Name great in might Who would not fear before the O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain or else with the 24 Elders Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and honor and power For thou haft created all things and for thy pleasure they are and they were created And now I have done with Epicurus and his Company methinks I may take a peble and a sling and like little David against Goliah venture one stroke with the great Aristotle also First sling a smooth stone at Him and then kill him with his own sword And what stone shall I take shall I oppose him with the commun Tradition Notion or belief of Mankind It is confesst that before the rise of Philosophy all did universally believe the Being of a God Nay Pythagoras Socrates Plato and all the most ancient of the Philosophers ownd this Truth That the world was created Aristotle himselfe acknowledgeth this Notion and belief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot 1. de Caelo c. 10. All men saith he affirme the world to have been created The Cartesians who have tryed as many tricks with themselves as other Men have endeavored and confess it to cast off all superinduced Principles and received Notions and among those this also of a God But with all their endeavors they confesse they could never do it but that the Notion of a God and a Creator will still abide in their Minds as a Testimony of his Existence I will not therefore say with Tertullian Tertull. praescriâ— adv Haereticos Quod apud multos unum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum That which in many persons is found one and the same is not an Error but a Tradition But thus That which in all Men is found one and the same is neither Error nor Tradition but a Notion given us by God together with our Natures And though some men have endeavor'd to stifle this Notion Yet I shall shew that it riseth upon them and casts them even into that very fear of God which they would avoid in spight of all their endeavors This Notion therefore and belief of a Deity that is so Universall and so immoveable must have a fixt
fit us for them and bring us to them even to those joyes that Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor have entred into the heart of Man to be conceived To the God of Joy and peace who is able to do for us more abundantly than we can ask or think be Glory Honor and Adoration for ever SERM. II. PSAL. 16.11 In thy presence is fullnesse of Joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore FOR Ministers to make Apologyes in the Pulpit when they are not absolutely necessary is generally judg'd to be uncomely and below the Gravity of their place But there are subjects sometimes to be treated of in which there is so just Occasion of some Preface that to omit it were token enough of a proud and presuming Nature And such I take to be the argument which I must consider from this Text which leadeth me to the consideration and Description of that Estate which I can neither fully understand nor speak And if God should give me the Tongue as he gave St Paul when he was rapt up into the third Heaven the Eyes of an Angell yet ye would not be able to understand neither the Nature of heavenly glory unlesse the same God should likewise give unto you Angelicall Intellectuals Such is the grossenesse of human sense that when we desire to give Heaven its due esteem yet all our thoughts are both besides it and below it We are not capable of any true Idea's of it We cannot bear the least ray of the starrinesse of its Nature It is therefore the great Mercy and Condescention of God that since we could not arise to the Contemplation of Heaven in its true and Native lustre he hath considered our Natures and by the use of familiar Metaphors and allusions made his heaven stoop to us and cloathed it for our present Comprehension with the Air and livery of this lower world And we are further to adore his Bounty that hath made heaven too great and too glorious an estate to be described Philosophically in affirmative univocall Termes It will be sufficient if I can any way expresse it though in phrases Metaphoricall and borrowed from subjects below it self and though they are as they must needs be full of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and undervaluations of its true and frequently alien from its essentiall and genuine dignity I shew'd in the foregoing discourse among other things that the greatest Happinesse possible can have but these four parts or properties 1. Indolence or security from greif which is required as a prerequisite and foundation of the other parts 2. That for the essence nothing can be desired more suitable to our Natures than Delight joy or Pleasure 3. That for the Degree man is capable of no more than Fullnesse 4. For the Extent that nothing can be longer or larger than Perpetuity or pleasures for evermore I went then only through the Negative part and without figure or Metaphor proved it from Scripture clearly distinctly that the state of Glory shall be free from pains and greifs bodily mentall temporall eternall Now I come to the positive part and to prove that there is not only in Heaven the state of Indolence or security from greif which answers that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Voluptas in statu so much valued by some of the ancient Philosophers but also that Voluptas in Motu preferred by others namely all those stirring and pleasant Airinesses and commotions of the mind which are concomitants of the greatest mirth For so though generally under figures and metaphors is that estate represented to us If you ask by what Authorities of Scripture we entertain this hope of an active joy in Heaven besides that of my Text which affirmes joy and fullnesse of joy to be had in the presence of God I shall refer you to what the Psalmist affirmeth in the 125 Psalm viz. That he who in this world goeth on his way weeping and beareth good seed shall doubtlesse come again with joy the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek that is with an Ovation or great exultancy of active joy Nay there is so much of this in Heaven that the state of Glory is simply styled by the name of Joy For the forme of words to bee used by our Savior when he shall admit his Religious and faithfull servants into Heaven is no other but this Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. But I have yet a further Conclusion to be prov'd from divine Revelation namely that there is not only a security from greif and some active joy in Heaven But that there are the greatest degrees and quantities of that joy There shall be plenty of it even as much as our refined and exalted Natures shall then be able to contain Nothing is capable of more than fullnesse and we have a ready testimony from the Text that in the presence of God there is fullnesse of joy Now to comply with our Natures and to make us esteem the reward that is proposed to us and to entice our affections after it that are generally too carnall and to represent the fullnesse of this joy so as to give it a power over us that are yet earthy minded the holy Ghost hath chosen to represent the pure and in their own Nature incomprehensible joyes of Heaven by sensible representations of the most eminent earthy delights and pleasures He saw our Infirmity that we cannot well Judge of delights that are purely intellectuall and spirituall and therefore he hath so much condescended to our Distempers as to distemper Heaven it self for our sakes and to draw us some scenes of Heavenly joyes in the corporall shapes and figures of our fullest earthy pleasures Such are those of feastings Weddings the possession of Riches Honors and the like so Luke 22.30 This Heavenly joy is represented by that of a Royall feast with God by eating and drinking at the Table of the king of Heaven And our Psalmist hath given us the like figure of Celestiall Happinesse in the thirty sixt Psalm v. 8. which we read thus They that trust in thee shall be abundantly satisfied with the fulnesse of thy House and thou shalt give them to drink of the River of thy pleasures that is thou shalt give them to drink plentifully of thy pleasures as out of a River It followes For with thee is the Well the never ceasing spring of life And in thy light shall we see light Every particular is very considerable First Inebriabuntur ubertate domus tuae so the vulgar latine agreeably enough to the Originall and best Translations In Textum Inebrtabuntur ubertate domus tuae torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos dicunt Interpretes quia suavior in poculentis voluptas quam in esculentis ideo per inebriationem summam laetitiam hie intelligi v. Euthymium Nicephorum â—uin Philosophi instantiam voluptatis iâ— motu eam potantis
so saith St Paul was Adam our Fore-Father 1 Cor. 15. And while we live here we must bear as he there speaks the Image of the Earthy And so are not capable to understand what Joyes will be apt to suit with our Natures after their change into the state of Incorruption Only thus much is revealed unto us That as we have borne the Image of the Earthy so we must bear the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15. That is as we have been hitherto like Adam so also hereafter we shall be in our glorified bodies like unto the glorifi'd body of Christ they are the expresse words of St Paul Phill. 3.21 That the Lord Jesus shall transfigure our vile bodyes and make them like unto his glorious body It is not saith St John 1 Epist. 3.2 manifest or Intelligible what we shall be only thus much is revealed and we know it to be true that when the Lord shall appear we shall be like him that is not only our Soules but our bodies also shall be purely spirituall even as the body of Christ was after his resurrection This is not vehemenisme but a great truth that there is a spirituall Body And however in the Notions of our present Philosophy Bodies and spirits are opposite and contradistinct yet not so but that the body of Christ now is and ours hereafter shall be undoubtedly spirituall we know but in part saith St Paul and truely the Nature of that spiritualty which we shall enjoy in our bodies after that great change is a mistery or that part of science which now we doe not cannot understand Maimonides hath an excellent discourse given us by the learned publisher of the Porta Mosis to this effect As saith he the blind Eye is not delighted by the most beautifull colours now the deaf Ear by the ravishing modulations of the sweetest Musick and as it is impossible that the fishes of the sea should know how to judge of the pleasures those creatures take that live in the quick and finest Aether under the Concave of the Moon Sicut nec caecue colores nec Sung dus voces nec impotens Veneris voluptatem veneris percipit ita nec corpora voluptates animi proprias assequi Et quemadmodum Piscis Elementum ignis non habet cognitum ita nec in mundo hoc corporeo voluptates Mundi spiritualis dignosci Maimonid in praefat ad Explic. cap. 10 Sanedrim apud Pocockium de Portâ Mosts so neither by us in this world can the delights of the spirituall world be discerned We have no true tast saith he of any but corporeall pleasures and purely mentall delights are so strange unto us that we cannot without much Industry and diligence have any tast or Apprehension of them On the contrary Angels are not sensible of any corporeall pleasures their senses are not as ours nor made to the same purposes And we after death shall no more relish or desire these bodily pleasures than a wise Monarch would desire to dethrone himselfe for ever and lay down all his Regalia that he might spend his dayes at play in the streets with that company and in those sports which when he was a child was more suitable to his temper than the excercise of his Royall power Such difference is there in the dignity and vilenesse of the delight of this corporeall and that spirituall World And therefore as that considering Rabbin well expresseth this matter God hath dealt with his people as a prudent and indulgent Master treateth the tender schollar whom he desires to improve He provokes him to his lesson with the reward of a fig or a piece of sweetmeates Et paulo post Non est Angelis voluâ—tas aliqua corporea nec cam percipiant cum non sint illis ut nobis seasus quibus ea quae nos percipimus assequantur Eodemque modo cum e Nobis quis dignus factus fuerit qui gradum istum pâ—st mortem consequatur Non amplius voluptates corporeas percepturus est eâsve appetiturus magis quam Rex magni Regni dominus Regno suo exuicuoiat ut ad Pili lusum in Plateis redeat etiamsi tempus faerit quo lusum istum Regno anteserret Fingas puerum minorennem ad praeceptorem deductum quo cum legem eâ—oceat quod magnum ei ob eam quam inde assequetur perfectionem Bonum est licet ipse magnitudinem istius boai prae intellectus imbecillitate non percipiat Coget Necessitas Praeceptorem qui ipso perfectior est scholarem sic provocare Dicet Lege ut tibi Juglandem aut ficum aut sacchari portiunculam demus ta fiet ut studcat Non ipsius Lectioâ—is gratiâ Cujus digaitatem nondum intelligit sed ut edulium istud accipiat c. apud Maimoniden cod lib. p. 138. deinceps or somewhat that will for the present work upon his phancy not with a discourse of nice speculation to evince a future satisfaction to the mind by the learning of the Law And this doubtlesse is the very reason why the holy Ghost bath had such frequent reference to corporeall pleasures in the Notices which he hath given us concerning the Joyes of Heaven because while wee are here our body generally prevailes above our spirit and we do better resent corporeall than mentall pleasures Cum horro mortalis de aternâ gloriâ disserit Caecus de luce disserit Gregor Moral 27.26 But notwithstanding for the use of those that are more perfect and that we may not conceive to our selves as I said any hope of a Mahumetane Paradise or reality of grosse corporeall pleasures in the life to come the same Spirit hath made frequent attestations of the Spirituallnesse which we shall enjoy even in our Bodyes then and of the diversity of our delights there from these of this present world and therefore when we shall come to explain the Nature of Heavenly glory without the use of Metaphors which can be only done by Negatives because we cannot forme any direct Idea of it then all these pleasures of eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage and all corporeall delights are denyed of it But now since we have made so good a progresse in the way we designed let us indulge our selves the refreshment a little to look back and see how consistent and agreeable these principles of Religion are to the Notions of considering men among the Heathen And truly it is hard to find any thing more agreeable to us than the Philosophy of Socrates as it is represented by Plato in his Philebus and elsewhere dispersedly among his writings and was as I take it the ancientest Philosophy of the whole world Which in short is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which testify that the ancients to Plato own'd the world to be govern'd by the providence of God He reckons this among the great and ancient Traditions inter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
therefore in the very words of our Office in the holy communion Let us lift up our hearts and give thanks to our Lord God For it is meet and right and our bounden duty that we should in all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord holy father All mighty and everlasting God But cheifly are we bound to praise thee for the glorious Resurrection of thy son Jesus Christ our Lord who by his death hath destroied death and by his Rising again to life hath restored us to everlasting life Therefore with the Angels and Arch-angels and all the company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name evermore praising thee and saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory Glory be to thee O Lord most high Amen FINES COMPARATI THE AIMES of Philosophicall Vulgar Wits Compared vvith the Ends of Religion and Vertue That which is Crooked cannot be made strait and that which is wanting cannot be numbred Eccles 1.15 1 Cor. 1.20 21 22 23. VVhere is the VVise VVhere is the scribe VVhere is the Disputer of this VVorld Hath not God made foolish the VVisdome of this VVorld For after that in the VVisdome of God the world by VVisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that believe For the Jewes require a sign and the Greeks seek after VVisdome But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jewes a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse But unto them that are called Jewes and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdome of God To which adde the 6th and 7th verses of the following chapter We speak wisdome among them that are perfect yet not the Wisdome of this world or of the princes of this world that come to nought But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdome which God ordained before the world to our Glory WHen I have been sometimes considering upon what slight grounds diverse learned Men have undervalued Religion and the Hopes of Immortality and Glory and that many vulgar Wits have done the same and that neither the learned Philosophers nor the carnally-minded and worldly men Both Philosophical and vulgar Wits vain in the choice of their ends have gotten any thing considerable in exchange or indeed have any thing in comparison to boast of I could not but apply to these two differences the high and Philosophicall and the low and vulgar Wits that saying of the Psalmist applyed by Him to the different states of Men. Psalm 62. Surely the Wits of high degree are Vanity and those of low degree are a lye to be laid in a Balance they are both together lighter than Vanity For I shall easily make it appear that the Wise man or Philosopher when he hath exalted himself against God He hath made himself a fool and that he hath no more Reason to glory of his Wisdome Jer. 9.23 than the Rich man hath of his Riches or the Voluptuous Man of his pleasure and that neither of them have any cause to Glory He that glories against Religion holds up his Weapons against God and he shall prosper accordingly Give me therefore your favor and patience and I shall consider them all the high and the low the Wise man and the fool as they have opposed the most perfect wisdome which however sometimes despised I shall plainly demonstrate to bee the VVisdome of Religion The Philosophers have ever been apt to soar too high and to towr aloft beyond their senses The vulgar have ever been as apt to sink too low so that their senses are communly drowned in the Enjoyments of this world We will not disparage Philosophy so much as not to consider it in the first Place And therefore I have chosen to present you a Landscape where you have our great Apostle represented as taking a Review of his Opponents at Athens who were the Philosophers in generall and among them if we distinguish particularly the Epicureans and the Stoicks And upon this full Review of the Opposition he had on the one side and of the power strength and successe of his Gospell on the other I conceive Him as it were venting both his Pitty and his Indignation in the words of this Text Where is the VVise Where is the the Scribe Where is the Disputer of this World hath not God made foolish the Wisdome of this World c. This Epistle was written to the Christians in Achaia Corinth as all know was the Metropolis in that Province insomuch that when the Apostle mentions the readinesse of of the Corinthians his phrase is that all Achaia was ready a year ago Athens was another lesser Citty in the same province but renownd for the Academy that was held there by the Philosophers And I am of Opinion that this Text reflects on somewhat that happen'd to St Paul at Athens Argumentum l. 5. Tuscul Quaestionum illud est Virtutem ad beatè vivenduÌ„ seipsâ esse contentam ubi sanctum illud augustúmque ut vocat Platonis fontem aperit Cui viro ex se apta sunt omnia quae ad beate vivenduÌ„ ferunt huic optime vivendi ratio comparata est Neque enim laetabitur unquam aut maerebit nimis Quod semper in seipso omnem spem reponet sui Et inter paradoxa defendit Cicero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nemo potest non esle beatissimus inquit qui est totus aptus ex se quique in se uno sua ponit omnia Contentus sis temet ipso ex te nascentibus bonis Sen. Epist. 20. Stoicus putat Deum ad sapienteum sic dicere Non egere felicitate felicitas vestra est Est quo Deum antecedatis Ille extra patâ—entiam malorum est vos supra patientiam Contemnite mortem quae vos aut finit aut transfert Ante omnia cautum est ne quis vos teneret invitos Nihil facilius quam mori c. Sen. de Providentia cap. 6. Solcbat Sextius dicere Jovem plus non posse quam Virum bonum Deus non vincis sapientiam felicitate etiamsi vincit aetate Non est Virtus major quae longior c. Epist 73. epist 5.3 Est aliquod inquit Seneca quo sapiens antecedat Deum Ille naturae beneficio non suo sapiens est Ecce res magna habere imbecillitatem hominis securitatem Dei. Et epist 31. Hoc est summum bonum quod si occupas incipis Deorum socius esse non supplex Vox Stoici non intercedam apud Deum ut sapiens plenus gaudio hilaris inconcussus sim ita Horatius Aequum animum mihi ipse parabo For as he disputed against the superstition of that place and preach't the Christian doctrine certain Philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoicks encountred Him abused Him called him names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 babler that is one that makes a great noise and
assemble themselves with the Congregations of Robbers and use ill Arts of living but those who by Intemperance have spent their estates in making provision for their Lusts But above all others that Incontinence the 3d Species described by chambering and Wantonesse is the Mother of great varieties of Injuries If it runs out into Adultery it causeth the breach of Conjugall faith which is the foundation of all Domestick Union then Spurious heires are thrust into inheritances not belonging to them and insteed of Love that cements Families they are harraz't with the sad effects of Hatred and Jealousy which end commonly in Duels poisons and such other Malicious Revenges But if it run out into Fornication only It brings in murder of Infants or their ill Education the staines of Bastardy and 1000 other Inconveniences Lastly let us consider how dishonourable a thing it is for Man as Man who is confess 't to have a divine and rationall Soul to be made a slave to such bestiall filthy lust There is not a Man among the Heathen but apprehends himself made for better ends Os homini sublime dedit Coelumque videre Jussit Saith one of their own Poets Man was not made to be a sot Quod si Pupillum tibi Deus commifisset nuÌ„ iilum negligeres Te vero cuÌ„ tibi ipfi commendavit inquiens non habeo aliquem fideliorem cui te committam quam Teipsum Hunc volo ita mihi custodias quemadmodum ipsius Natura postulat scil pudicum fideleÌ„ altum infractuÌ„ affectibus malis vacuum moderatum Sobrium c. Apud Ariaâ—um in Epictet or to intend no more then what all beasts intend and enjoy much more than he No man was made for the Exercise of vertue and contemplation of God and communion with him and hath even as Heathen Philosophers have observed a Soul apt for such Employments How base therefore and dishonourable a thing were it for Man to wallow in the dirty puddle of his lusts which makes him unfit not only for communion with God but also for the exercise of Reason and vertue among Men. Who then but a fool would wish to live the life of sensuall pleasures when as I have prov'd unto you there is neither satisfaction nor content to be had in the Enjoyment nor safety either to the mind Body or estate to be had in the pursuance of those pleasures to which we are addicted by our Naturall Lusts besides that it is dishonourable and unworthy of a Man to be made a vassall and slave to such Enjoyments as are commun to him with the beasts that perish All this you will say you could have heard in the Morall Philosophy School and it is probable you might Morality is a great and acceptable part of Gods service and our Duty and he useth his Reason well who by it establisheth himself in Morall Reformation St Paul himself presseth a Morall Argument against the use of these Intemperances as 1 Cor. 6.18 where he telleth us that he who committeth fornication sinneth against his own body which is a Truth commended to us by all Moralists It is true wee that are Christians have more high and spirituall Reasons to move those who value the honor and Interest of their professions And therefore my third Conclusion was That the pursuance of lustfull pleasures was most of all Mischevous and dishonorable to Man as Christian Wee cannot serve God and Lust Simul esse possunt Simul regnare non possunt Heaven and Hell are not more contrary in their Rules designes and Ends than they For let a man put on the strongest Resolutions of Piety let him bind those Resolutions with the strongest vowes yet a Dalilah in his Bosome a reigning Lust will quickly ruine and nullify them all Seeing therefore we cannot serve God and our lustfull pleasures at the same time let us own our own Master his servants we are to whom we obey let us take heed we do not come under the Character 1 Tim. 3.4 of being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of pleasures more than Lovers of God For they which are so have denyed their first profession which was to keep Gods holy Will and commandments and to renounce the sin full Lusts of the Flesh Secondly which is the other part of my Conclusion The pursuance of all sensuall pleasures is highly dishonourable also to Man as Christian. This may be learn't from that Argument of St Paul 1 Cor. 6.19 Know ye not that your Bodies are Temples of the holy Ghost that is as Churches and Temples are honored above other places by being consecrated to Gods service so are our Bodies honored above the bodies of other Men by being consecrated to the service and Inhabitation of Gods holy Spirit Sometimes for the like honor done unto them our Bodies are compared to holy and consecrated vessels and therefore the same Apostle telleth us that this is the will of God even our Sanctification that every one should know how to possesse his vessell in sanctification and honour 1 Thess 4 3 4. not in the lust of Concupiscence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed which we translate vessell signifieth also any utensill or Instrument and the body being the Instrument not only of the rationall soul but also of the holy Spirit is therefore properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Its utensill or vessell but then as the Apostle intimates the utensils of the soul or Spirit are to be used honorably holily and cleanly and if Philosophy hath condemned the pleasures of Intemperance as unworthy the Aimes of Men much more will they appear to be below and unworthy of a Christian It was the Strict command of God by the Prophet Esay Depart depart touch no unclean thing yee that bear the vessels of the Lord. And if it be so strictly required that those should be clean that bear the vessels much more Reason is it that those should be clean that are the vessels of the Lord. Consider my Brethren the filthinesses that are consequent to all manner of Intemperances they are so very filthy they are not to be named in a Christian Assembly Of what Judgement then shall we be thought worthy if when we have consecrated our vessels unto God we afterwards dishonor and pollute them He acceps the gifts of our Bodies as well as that of our souls and Spirits and hath preferred them to be vessels of sanctification purity and Honor what a Judgement fell upon Belshasser when he was taken in the act of profaning the Material vessels of the Sanctuary in his Luxury and drunkennesse Dan. 5. But the sin of the loose and debauch't professor is worse than this For he polluteth the Temple it self the Sanctuary it self For such is every Christians Body unto Christ The Intemperate man may pretend much but he cannot truly boast of any Religion or love to the Church He hath a zeal it may be against the separatist but he considereth not that even in the
same kind the sacrilegious separatist is lesse prophane then He The separatist doth very ill when he profanes the materiall Temple but the intemperate Christian doth worse when he profaneh the spirituall The separatist defaceth the pictures of the Saints but the Intemperate Christian defaceth the very Image of God according to which he was created I think I may yet further follow my Apostle and step a little higher in expressing the honour that is done unto our bodies against which we sin by these Intemperances For our Bodies are not only said to be the vessels Temples and Sanctuaries unto Christ but even Members of him also because of the same Spirit that cohabiteth both in our Lord and us St Paul presseth this Argument home against the 3d and worst sort of Intemperance 1 Cor. 6.15 Know you not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot Surely he that desires to bee called by the name of a Christian and would deserve that name can never intend so vile an Act or willingly consent so to dishonor the Members of his Lord. The truth is our Religion goes beyond Philosophy and affords not only the best Rules of Sobriety but the best encouragements to it and the best Dissuasives from the contrary V Tacit. l. 3. Ann Alexandiū ab Alexan. l. 3. c. 11. Yet as Tiberius spake in Tacitus concerning the Laws anciently made in Rome against Luxury Leges contemptu abolitas securiorem Luxum fecisse that those Laws being once suffered to be despised made Luxury ride on more triumphantly and secure This is our very Case The Gospell of our Lord hath prescribed us good Medicines but our Disease is grown so great as to have the Mastery and to triumph over all our Medicines vice is grown so powerfull and impudent as to run down Religion it self from off the stage of this sinfull World when St John pronounced that dismall sentence in the Conclusion of his Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole world lyeth down and sinks under the power of its own wickednesse He excepted then the Christians out of that World 1 Joh 5.19 But where is now the power of Christianity it self where is there now even among Christians the Man that in St Johns sense sinneth not where is the Man that guardeth and keepeth himself so that the Wicked one toucheth him not Is it not an ill and a desperate case my Brethren that we can be contented with the empty name of Christianity and can suffer the Laws and power of Religion to be contemned Is not the Word of God as sufficiently able now as formerly to hamper and toyl the Consciences of profane and evil men Methinks I have a mind to imitate St James to make an Apostrophe to them and to call these wicked Men a little by their own names Yee Adulterers and Adulteresses those are the Apostles words Yee Drunkards and ryottous persons ye that are a shame and scandall to your profession yee that abuse the Members of Christ and continually dishonour and profane your Bodies your Bodies said I Nay they are not yours those vessels I mean that your Lord hath made and bought and which first in your Baptisme and since in every Sacrament received by you ye have dedicated to God and he hath appointed to Sanctification and holinesse What will ye not stand to the Covenants ye have made with your God Is it nothing in a Matter so sacred to give and to take to offer and resume to promise and prevaricate Is it not a great prophanesse and sacriledge to defile and pollute the vessels ye have dedicated And do yee not fear to be overtaken in your profanesse as Belshazzar was in his Or if you are not afraid of the Wickednesse that is in it for some indeed there are that are not afraid of any Wickednesse yet why are yee not ashamed of your folly Thus Vetulam praeferre Immortalitali to preferre the filthy Harlottry of the world and flesh before the eternall glory of your Bodies and souls Why do yee pretend to Christianity if ye will not practice it This we know that if you believe the Gospell you cannot think your selves secure in the pursuance of these practices O yee young Men why do ye not consider what Salomon hath foretold you that when you have rejoyced your fill and walk't till you are weary in the wayes of your heart and in the sight of your eyes you must in the end be brought to a Reckoning and a Judgement for all the particulars of your lives Eccles 11.9 O yee that are Men of Age ye that have been now for a long time professors of Christian Religion why do you not consider what our saviour hath prophesied Mat. 4.36 That as when in the daies of Noah Men were eating and drinking untill the flood came and took them all away so shall the coming of the son of Man bee It was nothing but his great kindnesse that made our Saviour give his Scholars that Caution Luc. 21.34 Take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkennesse and the Cares of this World and so that day come upon you unawares As he is a faithfull and wise servant that maketh it his businesse to do his Masters will so he hath the character of an unfaithfull evill and foolish servant who puts off the evill day and saith in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and sinneth and wrongeth his fellow servants and eateth and drinketh with the drunken For the Daies of his particular Judgment shall come sooner than he thinks for The Lord of that servant as himself hath foretold shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall appoint his portion with Hypocrites And let me tell you the portion of Hypocrites is one of the worst Portions that is paid in Hell That we may have a better Portion in a better place I shall conclude by pressing seriously upon you the very exhortation in my Text That Exhortation that wrought so happily upon St Augustine And if it wrought upon St Augustine why may it not by the gracious operation of the same Spirit work a like effect upon some of us Let us my Brethren cast of the workes of darknesse and let us put on the Armour of light let us walk honestly as in the day Not in ryotting and drunkennesse not in Chambering and Wantonnesse not in strife and Envying but let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh to fullfill the Lusts thereof Let us know that our Religion ought to extend to every action of our Lives even to our eating and drinking and every part of our Conversation Let us remember whose we are who hath made us and who hath bought us with a price And since he hath made both and